Sunny.

Sunny again today but with a change in the wind direction it was quite chilly. Looking out of the window this morning the petrol blue sea was completely flat with the sun highlighting the gulls scattered right across the bay.

I was woken at 7.25 by Speedy's nose, it's really cute but I make a point of not getting up to feed him when he wakes me up so I kept my eyes closed. 7.30 and there were sounds of industry outside as the scaffolders took down the scaffolding. They weren't too noisy and had gone by 8.00. 

My first job of the day was carrying on in the front garden. I didn't want to do any lifting but I cleared up more of the loose soil under the collapsed garden wall. This all went under the street hedge and a few more Vinca got planted along with cuttings and rooted stems of honeysuckle. I put in plenty in the hope that at least some will take. It seemed strange to then begin chopping back the rest of the honeysuckle that had spread across the garden but now I have cleared around a small sundial in that corner and freed up another hydrangea. It wasn't until mid-day that the Boss builder turned up with his mate and then, as can be seen by the final photo, work began on taking down the bay window. I couldn't resist sitting on the sundial, well it was in the last patch of sun, and combining watching the work on the bay window with garden planning. Now that I can see where the first sun reaches the garden it's becoming clearer where to put some small seating areas.

With work on the bay window progressing well after making a final cuppa for the builders I took myself off for a beach walk to catch the low tide at 5.00.

Even though I'm down on the beach most days there is something new to see each time. Today I turned at the sound of pounding to see a couple of girls out for a ride. I would have loved to have such a beach to ride on in my days of looking after other people's horses.

As usual I walked along the waters' edge heading out onto the sand spit leading to the two 'islands'. For the most part this is a beach with many pebbles and a few shells but here every single object was a shell, mostly tiny shells with a few bigger shells and the occasional extra large otter shell or black clam. As soon as I walked up the other side of the spit more than half the objects were small pebbles. Another example of how the sea sorts out the things it leaves on the shore.

I suddenly noticed a group of small birds perched on some rocks at the edge of the waves. Although I told a lady I was chatting to that I thought they might be sandpipers looking at my book I see they are sanderlings, winter visitors to our shores. The lady's friendly terrier caused them to fly off but I later saw them further up the beach feeding right at the edge of the waves. They looked very funny as they rootled around in the water, scooted back as a group away from the incoming waves and then ran straight out again.

Another new experience was hearing loud double thumps. Looking behind me I saw these two chaps doing some serious training with tractor tyres. They flipped their tyres all the way down to the water and then back up again. Rather them than me.

I've found a few prickly cockle shells at these extra low tides and today this one shone like a golden nugget in the setting sun.

Ta dah! Work has begun on getting rid of the bay window. The glass is out already giving a much better view of the sunset which at the moment happens as we are eating our supper at the table. Although from the sitting room the bay window area is full of the old window and roof timbers the view out is so much better. Hopefully it won't be long before we can walk out on to a much bigger terrace and can see right across the bay from the sitting room.